Friday, January 27, 2006

A Million Little Lies Pt 2

Oprah Winfrey shocked the media world yesterday by doing the unthinkable, the extraordinary, something never before done by a celebrity in the entertainment industry - she admitted she was wrong. Oprah started Thursday's show with a public apology for supporting and defending her bookclub selection, A Million Little Pieces. She then proceeded to interview James Frey and his publisher and got him to admit that large portions of his book were false. Of course, this was not big news to those who read The Smoking Gun's expose' of him, but was big news to those who only believe what they see on television. I'm glad this happened and greatly admire Oprah Winfrey for choosing humiliation to preserve her reputation.

Note: The reaction to Oprah's public exposure of James Frey has, oddly enough, produced an enormous amount of sympathy for the guy. I guess Oprah overdid it, making herself look like a bully and Frey the victim. Even Salon, which earlier dragged Frey over the coals, published an article criticising Oprah for the performance.